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A case for Open Data

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CONTENTMATTERS

Why isn’t it enough?

Open source only covers the software Open source doesn’t require open formats

Data often lasts longer than software

Data is more valuable when accessible Any code will be acceptable, any data won’t

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Graphic by Open Source Initiative, CC BY

Open data – real goldCanadian GoldCorp Inc. was near collapse in the late 90’ies.It’s Red Lake mine showed reduced output after 50 years of production Then something previously unheard of happened:

Inspired by the crowd-sourcing of Linux and Open Source, Rob McEwen announced The GoldCorp Challenge: a competition to find new gold in the mine. The full geological dataset from Red Lake was made available to contestants.

And the result?

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110 targets were suggested by contestants from around the world

80% of the targets submitted yielded substantial quantities of gold

GoldCorp got first look a wealth of new technologies for mine analysis

Production at Red Lake increased tenfold while mining costs dropped to 1/6th

What is Open Data?

• Open Knowledge Definition (http://www.opendefinition.org/)

Open data/content/information must:1. Be Available and Accessible at Reproduction Cost “As a Whole”2. Permit Free Redistribution3. Permit Reuse Under Same Terms4. Be Absent of Technological Restrictions5. Be Attributed as Required6. Keep Source Integrity7. Not Discriminate Against Persons or Groups8. Not Discriminate Against Fields of Endeavor9. Be Distributed with only the Original License10. Must Not Be Licensed Specific to a Package11. Must Not by License Restrict the Distribution of Other Works

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Graphic by ronin691 @ Flickr, CC BY-SA

Why should we create open data?

Restrictions on data re-use can create an anti-commons and its related tragedy.

Sponsors of research may not get full value unless the results are freely available.

Some data are required for the smooth operation of communal human activities.

In research, the rate of discovery is accelerated by better access to data.

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If you love something…

Set it free!

Photo by keltanen @ Flickr, CC BY-NC

When should we demand Open Data?

The data belongs to the human race

Public money was used to fund the creation of the data

The data was created by or at a government institution

The data is independently verifiable facts or common knowledge

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Current opportunities Norwegian Medicines Agency

o Open medical databases can aid both research and healthcare.o Data on approved medicines in Norway were made available online in 2008.

Norwegian Mapping Authorityo Open maps can prevent fatal accidents, especially at sea.o The ”Rocknes”-wreck were caused by 3rd party electronic maps. 18 died.o The official maps are still not available to Norwegian pilotage authorities.o In the United States, official nautical maps are freely available online.

Norwegian Pollution Control Authorityo A central database of information on various materials can improve safety.o Many databases on hazardous chemicals are outdated and of limited scope.o No single source of up to date and complete information are available.

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Graphic by W3C SWEO Linking Open Data, CC BY-SA

Linked Data is about using the Web to connect related data that wasn't previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods.

Wikipedia defines Linked Data as “a term used to describe a recommended best practice for exposing, sharing, and connecting pieces of data, information, and knowledge on the Semantic Web using URIs and RDF.”

http://linkeddata.org/

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Graphic by semanticwebcompany @ Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

DBpedia is a community effort to extract structured information from Wikipedia and to make this information available on the Web. DBpedia allows you to ask sophisticated queries against Wikipedia, and to link other data sets on the Web to Wikipedia data.

The DBpedia knowledge base currently describes more than 2.6 million things, including at least 213,000 persons, 328,000 places, 57,000 music albums, 36,000 films, 20,000 companies. The knowledge base consists of 274 million pieces of information (RDF triples).

http://dbpedia.org/

DBpedia and all other linked data is searchable with SPARQLhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARQL

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Open StreetmapOpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you. OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth. www.openstreetmap.org

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GeoNamesThe GeoNames geographical database is available for download free of charge under a creative commons attribution license. It contains over eight million geographical names and consists of 6.5 million unique features.www.geonames.org

Creating Open Data• Public Domain – Only after the expiration of copyright• Science Commons protocol for open data

Creative Commons Zero (Link) Public Domain Dedication & Licence with Community Norms (Link)

o Avoid Technical protection measureso Give credit where credit’s dueo Use Open formats o Let others know! o Share your work too!

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Photo by suttonhoo @ Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

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The road to open knowledge starts here!

Photo by danesparza @ Flickr, CC BY-ND

Svein-Magnus Sørensen Master of Science in Communications Technology from NTNU Graduate from the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship (Gründerskolen)

• Worked 2 years at Computas AS as a webdeveloper• Currently working at Objectware AS as a business analyst

Weblog: http://blog.menneske.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/sveinmagnus

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